What to do, what to do…

He was making it worse. Lately, it seemed like all he was capable of doing was making their situation worse. Even when he told himself not to do something he seemed unable to stop himself. He shouldn't dote on her, he shouldn't have given her a bedroom, he shouldn't be thinking about her, and he shouldn't be paying any attention to her whatsoever!

But he couldn't seem to help it. One thing bled into another where she was concerned. And it seemed to happen so naturally that he didn't realize what he'd done until after he'd done it. First a library, then clothes, now a bedroom, and then…

He'd started a new tradition with her, one that was born of the book he'd given her so long ago. She wanted so badly to see the world, but he still managed to refuse to take her along in his dealings. So instead, he'd figured out a way to show her the world without removing her from the castle. Every time he left for another land, he returned with a book, one that took place in whatever Kingdom he journeyed to. He would give it to her and watch her, eagerly awaiting the moment she would reach the end. Then the fun began. She would guess where he'd been, and then, afterward, usually over tea, they would discuss his travels a bit more. She hung on every word he had to share about his experiences. And he relished their conversations. He languished in the way that she broke up his long day with their conversation, the way she laughed, the way she would lean toward him when he spoke, and even the way he couldn't wait to hear what she would say or add about his experiences. So much for not indulging her...

Still, he had a feeling they both loved it. So why she was playing with him now was a mystery to him.

He was in his tower, spinning to forget the small spat that they'd just had, a small spat that had irritated him, but that appeared to entertain her, which was irritating enough on it's own. It was his fault, of course. She'd been nearing the end of her book, and she'd caught him glancing over at her from his spinning wheel in the Great Room.

"Is there something I can help you with?" she'd asked far too innocently. She'd seen him, she'd seen his eagerness, and it made him break into a cold sweat.

But he should have come up with something else to say other than "Merely wondering why my maid has so much free time on her hands. Perhaps I need to assign you more chores." Instead of hiding what he was certain she already knew, he should have just told her he was waiting for her to finish the book, then maybe she wouldn't have doubled down on his accusation.

"Perhaps you do," she'd smirked, putting her bookmark in the book and closing it so hard he heard it across the room. "Tell me, Rumpelstiltskin, what have I neglected to take care of?"

No one insulted her cleaning. If he hadn't suggested that the entryway looked a bit dusty to cover his tracks, then perhaps they would be talking about that book right now. But instead, she'd won their argument by rising not only to dust, a simple task, but also to polish the floor, wash the windows, and collect new flowers; tasks that would easily keep her busy for the rest of the day. He was such a fool. He was such a-

Well…this was an interesting turn to his day.

There was someone on the grounds. Two someones. One of the signatures he recognized quickly because it was always one of the most unique he'd come across in his life. Jefferson.

The second wasn't familiar at all to him. However, knowing this man as he did, he had a very good guess at who it might be. Grace, Jefferson's daughter, or at least he assumed.

Just as soon as he identified the callers on his property, he heard the shouts, Jefferson, downstairs just outside the door, calling his name. Jefferson, in the foyer, shouting for him at the top of his lungs. He considered, for an instant, bothering himself to get up from his spinning wheel to go and meet his old colleague. But Jefferson was a capable young man, or at least he had been in his days. He assumed that either Belle would help him or else he would find his way up to his tower just like he used to. A few moments later, he heard steps pounding on the stairs. Apparently, it was the latter.

"I'm sorry he wouldn't stop!"

"Rumpelstiltskin!" Jefferson screamed over Belle. He glanced around at her to make sure she was alright, but other than being breathless from chasing after Jefferson, she was fine. The small human child slung over Jefferson's shoulder, however, was obviously not as fine.

"Jefferson…to what do I owe the pleasure?"

He didn't answer with words, instead, he stomped over to one of his tables. With his free arm he pushed off all the books and bobbles onto the ground and laid the child out upon it. The infamous Grace…though she looked quite a bit different than when he'd last seen her. When he'd sent Jefferson to retrieve Cruella DeVil, she'd been sleeping in her bed and he'd only gotten a glance, but he was certain that when he'd seen her, she hadn't been bright blue. He'd bet his life that Gargamel Mushrooms were the culprit. They were poison, magically, of course. The idea of a joke that some witch or wizard had come up with in the past, they were hardly funny. They had a tendency to turn their victims into blueberry bushes. Little Grace, it appeared, was only a few days away from sprouting roots.

"Fix her!" Jefferson demanded.

"Fix her?" he laughed. "She doesn't appear broken. Has she sprung a leak? Jostled a cog?"

"Don't toy with me, Rumpelstiltskin! This isn't a joke. Grace is sick, dying. Someone gave her just a bit of the Gargamel Mushrooms and she collapsed right away and began turning blue."

"Now, why would anyone do such a thing?!"

"You know why!" he shouted, red eyes practically bulging out of his skull. His associate hadn't slept recently, probably not since his daughter had gotten sick, and yet Jefferson looked far older than he should have. Parenthood had a tendency to do that. So did living without magic. Jefferson always was talented, living in a world where he refused to use his natural gifts would always have side effects. Especially considering all the enemies he'd made jumping realms all those years ago. Today he was learning that lesson the hard way. "It was to get back at me. I won't have her die because of something I did! Fix her. I know you can!"

"Well, perhaps I can, dearie," he confirmed, taking a step forward. "But you know as well as I do, all magic comes with a price!"

"And I've paid it, several times over!" he answered without hesitation. "You owe me, for procuring several magical items for you over the years."

Damn it. All he had to say was those words, and he felt a familiar tugging inside of him. It was a tugging that reminded him that he did owe Jefferson. He just never thought that Jefferson would realize it. Long, long ago, they'd had a relationship where they'd joke about owing one another favors. Those favors that Jefferson owed him were what allowed him to send Jefferson out after Cruella. He'd forgotten that while he'd cashed in on his favors, Jefferson had never asked him for his own. At least not until now. Jefferson had the upper hand, and his confidence as he stood before him making his demands told him that he knew it.

"Fix her," he insisted.

"So…it seems your rainy day has finally come…"

Do him a favor and he'll repay you in kind…

"If not this, then what?" he shrugged. "Fix my daughter."

He didn't like being ordered around, no matter what the Seer said. He didn't like being forced into corners and having boys tell him to-

"Rumple!" Belle's call forced his gaze away from Jefferson. She was standing by the girl, holding her hand. Her face was contorted in worry and panic, she looked as if she was going to break into tears at any moment. He'd do anything to make sure that didn't happen. "Please…help her!"

If that was her demand…

"How long ago was she poisoned?" he asked as he turned back to his workstation and began preparing the antidote.

It was a simple concoction of rare ingredients; ingredients that he had a tendency to keep on hand for times just like this.

"Three days," Jefferson answered.

"Three days! It's taken you three days to get here?!" he heard Belle gasp as he started the math in his head. Three days…the poison took ten days to complete its transformation. He needed a strong concoction to overcome three days.

"We had little choice, if anyone had seen her, they'd have thought she had a plague and killed her, we had to be careful, and we do live quite a distance."

"The Gargamel Mushroom only gets worse the longer it's in the system; another day or so and she'd have begun to shrink!" he added with a small laugh that neither Jefferson nor Belle reciprocated.

"I'm aware," Jefferson answered as he added the necessary ingredients in the necessary proportions into a small cauldron. It fizzled and popped just as it should before it finally flashed with a bang that made Jefferson and Belle jump. It was done. But if he fed it to her as it was, she'd sear her throat. The room was silent, two sets of eyes were on him as he deftly poured it into a glass flask. If it weren't for his curse, it would have burned him, but instead he barely felt it as he went to the window sill, rolled the flask in the old snow so that it formed a snowball with that flask at its core. The potion was hot. It melted the snow easily, but by the time he walked back over to Jefferson he could feel that it was at least cool enough to give it to the girl without harming her.

"Give it to her," he ordered, handing it over to him. The second he took it from him, he felt the pressure in his chest lessen. The deal was done, his debt paid…one of them at least.

He watched as Jefferson hustled over to his daughter, threw the stopper away to some corner of the room, and lifted her head so that he could pour the antidote into her open mouth. He didn't need to watch what happened next because he knew what was going to happen.

"Grace!"

The girl wasn't that far gone, and the antidote he'd made was strong. First, her coloring would recede, returning her to her normal shade of pale white.

"Grace!"

Then her heartbeat and her breathing would begin to stabilize.

"Grace!"

And finally-

"Papa!"

Her paralysis would end.

"Oh, Grace! I was so worried I'd lost you!"

Behind him, he heard the shuffle of clothes and the breathlessness that came from a hard hug, the type that a father might give to his child when he got them back from the brink of death. He knew that hug, he'd given it once upon a time.

"I'm here, Papa…I'm tired."

"I know, I know, I'm just so happy you're okay again!" Jefferson choked out so that he could hear he was crying without looking at him. Suddenly Jefferson sniffled and then cleared his throat. "We'll rest here for tonight and be on our way as soon as Grace is strong enough."

"If you insist," he commented without looking at him. It wasn't the first time Jefferson had invited himself over for the night, just the first time he'd also invited his daughter. If he felt like she was safe here, then he wouldn't deny them. It was almost like old times. "Belle will find you accommodations."

"Belle?"

He winced at his mistake as Belle piped up "me."

Jefferson was a man of eternal curiosity, no matter how he changed. He didn't need to see his face to know that he'd just made a misstep. And now Jefferson was curious.

Alright! Welcome to the infamous Jefferson Chapters! Kinda nice to have them right where they belong all along, right? It's nice not to have to wait. For anyone not familiar, "The Jefferson Chapters" originally refers to two chapters that I had written for Moments way back in season 2, but didn't actually publish until something like season 6 or 7. Sebastian Stan had left to do Marvel stuff by then, but A&E continued to say that they wanted him back for episodes if they could work out his schedule. Because of that, I wasn't confident with publishing the Jefferson Chapters if they were just going to bring him back and I'd have to change everything anyway. However, toward the end of the series, A&E still said they would love to have him for episodes, but they seemed resigned to the fact that it wasn't going to be possible and I finally felt comfortable enough to share them with the Moments Readers. I teased the chapters terribly for all those years, but at least in Chronicles, I'm happy to be able to deliver them to you right on time and not have to make you wait for them.

Big thank yous to Ysabel, Alarda, Jennifer Baratta, and Grace5231973 for your reviews on the last chapter. I'm glad you saw the point to that chapter even if the point is for a very far off time. I'm glad you understand and I do hope that it's chapters like that (and even the Jefferson Chapters) that make the wait for this fiction worth it. Fun fact, there are two Jefferson Chapters in Moments and there will be two Jefferson Chapters in Chronicles. Hm...but one of the Jefferson Chapters in Moment is all Belle and Jefferson talking alone so...gee, I wonder whatever the second Jefferson Chapter in Chronicles could be?! All that and more coming up in the next chapter! Peace and Happy Reading!